UK Singles Chart: 1953

In terms of music style, 1953 was pretty much the same as 1952, though it would probably be expected given the charts had only existed for the final 6 weeks of 1952.

It was still a top 12 and there was a total of 76 songs which made the charts that year. For the first and only time in chart history, there was a joint number one which happened the second week of December. It was actually the same song sung by two different artists. The song was Answer Me and the artists were Frankie Laine and David Whitfield. The David Whitfield version was number one first at the start of November, then was knocked off a week later by Frankie Laine which would remain number one for the rest of the year.

Its a well known fact that the song which spent the most consecutive weeks at number one in the charts history was Bryan Adams - (Everything I do) I do it for you, spending 16 weeks at the top in 1991. What is less known is that the song to spend the most weeks at number one overall was Frankie Laine - I Believe which was number one for a total of 18 weeks, all of which happened in 1953.

In fact Frankie Laine was very much the dominant figure in the singles chart this year spending a total of 27 weeks at number one from three songs, his other number one being Hey Joe. He also ended the year as the artist with the most singles (7) and most number ones (3). The only other artists to have had more than one number one were Eddie Fisher (Outside of Heaven & I'm Walking Behind You) and Guy Mitchell (She Wears Red Feathers & Look at That Girl).

By the end of the year there was still no artists from outside of the UK, USA, Canada or Trinidad & Tobago who had scored a hit single. Winifred Atwell was still the only person to have written their own hit single to date too.

It was still very much dominated by solo artists, but there were four groups who had hits that year, Mills Brothers, Stargazers, Johnston Brothers and Beverley Sisters. Mills Brothers were the first group to be considered a one hit wonder, their hit being Glow Worm. Stargazers were the first group to score a number one with Broken Wings. Until Joy Beverley died recently, every member of the Beverley Sisters was still alive which made them the earliest group to have a hit single with all members still alive. I shall reveal who that honour goes to now in this blod once I get to the relevant year.

Finally, many people will remember at primary school being taught the song (How Much is) That Doggie in the Window. Well this was actually a number one hit in 1953 by Lita Roza, though apparently she disliked the song and refused to sing it on stage.